Configured management-as-a-service connect process based on tenant requirements

ABSTRACT

An approach is provided that configures a management-as-a-service (MaaS) connect process at a MaaS provider. The MaaS connect process is configured based on a request received from a MaaS tenant. The configured MaaS connect process is transmitted to the MaaS tenant. MaaS services are provided from the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant. These MaaS services interact with the configured MaaS connect process installed at the MaaS tenant.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to providing a network-basedadministration console to manage collective intelligence ofadministrators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

“Software as a Service” (SaaS) is a software delivery model where asoftware vendor develops a web-native software application hosts andoperates (either independently or through a third-party) the applicationfor use by its customers over a computer network, such as the Internet.Typical advantages of SaaS usually include the customers not takingtitle to the product, no inventory or logistics, no contractualreselling activity, no repair service, and usually no physical goods toinstall or connect. In the SaaS model, the customers generally do notpay for owning the software itself but instead pay a usage fee for usingthe product.

Some key characteristics of SaaS software generally include thefollowing. First, SaaS generally provides network-based access to, andmanagement of, commercially available (i.e., non-custom) software.Second, activities are generally managed from central locations ratherthan at each customer's site, thereby enabling customers to accessapplications remotely via a computer network, such as the Internet.Third, application delivery typically is closer to a one-to-many model(single instance, multi-tenant architecture) than to a one-to-one model,including architecture, pricing, partnering, and managementcharacteristics. And fourth, SaaS provides centralized feature updating,which obviates the need for downloading patches and upgrades.

Management as a Service (MaaS) refers to offering IT Management Servicesusing the SaaS delivery model. The consumers of the ‘Management as aService’ are typically IT elements (such as, Server Nodes, Networkelements, Storage servers, etc.). In this respect, MaaS differs fromSaaS. A MaaS Provider refers to the service vendor, who offers ITManagement Services using the SaaS delivery mode. The Maas Providerhosts the management services on a SaaS Platform and provides themremotely to a consumer over a network. A MaaS Tenant refers to theconsumer of IT Management Services using the SaaS delivery model. TheMaaS Tenant subscribes to the MaaS Provider for the Management servicesand consumes them remotely.

SUMMARY

An approach is provided that configures a management-as-a-service (MaaS)connect process at a MaaS provider. The MaaS connect process isconfigured based on a request received from a MaaS tenant. Theconfigured MaaS connect process is transmitted to the MaaS tenant. MaaSservices are provided from the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant. TheseMaaS services interact with the configured MaaS connect processinstalled at the MaaS tenant.

The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity,simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, asdefined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limitingdetailed description set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data processing system in which themethods described herein can be implemented;

FIG. 2 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems which operate in a networked environment;

FIG. 3 is a high-level diagram showing components used to rapidlyon-board a tenant in a Management as a Service (MaaS) Environment;

FIG. 4 is a first diagram showing steps performed by the MaaS TenantAdministrator, MaaS Connect, MaaS Platform & MaaS ProviderAdministrator;

FIG. 5 is a second diagram showing steps performed by the MaaS TenantAdministrator, MaaS Connect, MaaS Platform & MaaS ProviderAdministrator;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing initial interaction steps between a MaaStenant and a MaaS provider;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing steps taken by tenant administrationduring MaaS advisory processing;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing steps taken to prepare the MaaS Connectfor a new tenant;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing steps taken to establish service-contractbetween the provider and tenant and to setup the MaaS Connect gateway;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing steps taken by MaaS advisory component ofthe MaaS Connect to assess the tenant's IT environment, report theassessment, and provide advice;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing interaction between and steps taken byMaaS Provider and MaaS tenant to establish the service contract;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing interaction between and steps taken byMaaS Provider and MaaS tenant to manage subscription changes and changea tenant's service configuration;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing by tenant to upgrade MaaS Connect andupgrade the tenant's IT environment;

FIG. 14A is a diagram depicting a sample application where the MaaSPlatform initial includes two LPARs;

FIG. 14B is a diagram depicting a sample environment that utilizes theapproach described in FIGS. 3 to 13; and

FIG. 14C is a diagram depicting the approach running with the MaaSConnect appliance providing a connection between the MaaS Provider andthe MaaS Tenant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain specific details are set forth in the following description andfigures to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments ofthe invention. Certain well-known details often associated withcomputing and software technology are not set forth in the followingdisclosure, however, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the variousembodiments of the invention. Further, those of ordinary skill in therelevant art will understand that they can practice other embodiments ofthe invention without one or more of the details described below.Finally, while various methods are described with reference to steps andsequences in the following disclosure, the description as such is forproviding a clear implementation of embodiments of the invention, andthe steps and sequences of steps should not be taken as required topractice this invention. Instead, the following is intended to provide adetailed description of an example of the invention and should not betaken to be limiting of the invention itself. Rather, any number ofvariations may fall within the scope of the invention, which is definedby the claims that follow the description.

The following detailed description will generally follow the summary ofthe invention, as set forth above, further explaining and expanding thedefinitions of the various aspects and embodiments of the invention asnecessary. To this end, this detailed description first sets forth acomputing environment in FIG. 1 that is suitable to implement thesoftware and/or hardware techniques associated with the invention. Anetworked environment is illustrated in FIG. 2 as an extension of thebasic computing environment, to emphasize that modern computingtechniques can be performed across multiple discrete devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates information handling system 100, which is asimplified example of a computer system capable of performing thecomputing operations described herein. Information handling system 100includes one or more processors 110 coupled to processor interface bus112. Processor interface bus 112 connects processors 110 to Northbridge115, which is also known as the Memory Controller Hub (MCH). Northbridge115 connects to system memory 120 and provides a means for processor(s)110 to access the system memory. Graphics controller 125 also connectsto Northbridge 115. In one embodiment, PCI Express bus 118 connectsNorthbridge 115 to graphics controller 125. Graphics controller 125connects to display device 130, such as a computer monitor.

Northbridge 115 and Southbridge 135 connect to each other using bus 119.In one embodiment, the bus is a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus thattransfers data at high speeds in each direction between Northbridge 115and Southbridge 135. In another embodiment, a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus connects the Northbridge and the Southbridge.Southbridge 135, also known as the I/O Controller Hub (ICH) is a chipthat generally implements capabilities that operate at slower speedsthan the capabilities provided by the Northbridge. Southbridge 135typically provides various busses used to connect various components.These busses include, for example, PCI and PCI Express busses, an ISAbus, a System Management Bus (SMBus or SMB), and/or a Low Pin Count(LPC) bus. The LPC bus often connects low-bandwidth devices, such asboot ROM 196 and “legacy” I/O devices (using a “super I/O” chip). The“legacy” I/O devices (198) can include, for example, serial and parallelports, keyboard, mouse, and/or a floppy disk controller. The LPC busalso connects Southbridge 135 to Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 195.Other components often included in Southbridge 135 include a DirectMemory Access (DMA) controller, a Programmable Interrupt Controller(PIC), and a storage device controller, which connects Southbridge 135to nonvolatile storage device 185, such as a hard disk drive, using bus184.

ExpressCard 155 is a slot that connects hot-pluggable devices to theinformation handling system. ExpressCard 155 supports both PCI Expressand USB connectivity as it connects to Southbridge 135 using both theUniversal Serial Bus (USB) the PCI Express bus. Southbridge 135 includesUSB Controller 140 that provides USB connectivity to devices thatconnect to the USB. These devices include webcam (camera) 150, infrared(IR) receiver 148, keyboard and trackpad 144, and Bluetooth device 146,which provides for wireless personal area networks (PANs). USBController 140 also provides USB connectivity to other miscellaneous USBconnected devices 142, such as a mouse, removable nonvolatile storagedevice 145, modems, network cards, ISDN connectors, fax, printers, USBhubs, and many other types of USB connected devices. While removablenonvolatile storage device 145 is shown as a USB-connected device,removable nonvolatile storage device 145 could be connected using adifferent interface, such as a Firewire interface, etcetera.

Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) device 175 connects to Southbridge 135via the PCI or PCI Express bus 172. LAN device 175 typically implementsone of the IEEE 802.11 standards of over-the-air modulation techniquesthat all use the same protocol to wireless communicate betweeninformation handling system 100 and another computer system or device.Optical storage device 190 connects to Southbridge 135 using Serial ATA(SATA) bus 188. Serial ATA adapters and devices communicate over ahigh-speed serial link. The Serial ATA bus also connects Southbridge 135to other forms of storage devices, such as hard disk drives. Audiocircuitry 160, such as a sound card, connects to Southbridge 135 via bus158. Audio circuitry 160 also provides functionality such as audioline-in and optical digital audio in port 162, optical digital outputand headphone jack 164, internal speakers 166, and internal microphone168. Ethernet controller 170 connects to Southbridge 135 using a bus,such as the PCI or PCI Express bus. Ethernet controller 170 connectsinformation handling system 100 to a computer network, such as a LocalArea Network (LAN), the Internet, and other public and private computernetworks.

While FIG. 1 shows one information handling system, an informationhandling system may take many forms. For example, an informationhandling system may take the form of a desktop, server, portable,laptop, notebook, or other form factor computer or data processingsystem. In addition, an information handling system may take other formfactors such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming device, ATMmachine, a portable telephone device, a communication device or otherdevices that include a processor and memory.

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM 195) shown in FIG. 1 and describedherein to provide security functions is but one example of a hardwaresecurity module (HSM). The TPM is a hardware security subsystem that maybe incorporated into any number of information handling systems, such asthose outlined in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems that operate in a networked environment. Types of informationhandling systems range from small handheld devices, such as handheldcomputer/mobile telephone 210 to large mainframe systems, such asmainframe computer 270. Examples of handheld computer 210 includepersonal digital assistants (PDAs), personal entertainment devices, suchas MP3 players, portable televisions, and compact disc players. Otherexamples of information handling systems include pen, or tablet,computer 220, laptop, or notebook, computer 230, workstation 240,personal computer system 250, and server 260. Other types of informationhandling systems that are not individually shown in FIG. 2 arerepresented by information handling system 280. As shown, the variousinformation handling systems can be networked together using computernetwork 200. Types of computer network that can be used to interconnectthe various information handling systems include Local Area Networks(LANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the Internet, the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), other wireless networks, and anyother network topology that can be used to interconnect the informationhandling systems. Many of the information handling systems includenonvolatile data stores, such as hard drives and/or nonvolatile memory.Some of the information handling systems shown in FIG. 2 depictsseparate nonvolatile data stores (server 260 utilizes nonvolatile datastore 265, mainframe computer 270 utilizes nonvolatile data store 275,and information handling system 280 utilizes nonvolatile data store285). The nonvolatile data store can be a component that is external tothe various information handling systems or can be internal to one ofthe information handling systems. In addition, removable nonvolatilestorage device 145 can be shared among two or more information handlingsystems using various techniques, such as connecting the removablenonvolatile storage device 145 to a USB port or other connector of theinformation handling systems.

FIG. 3 is a high-level diagram showing components used to rapidlyon-board a tenant in a Management as a Service (MaaS) Environment.Integration of the various architectural components 300 is shown. MaaSTenant 350 refers to the client computer system that is a consumer of ITManagement Services provided by MaaS Provider 310 using the SaaSdelivery model described herein. The MaaS Tenant subscribes to the MaaSProvider for the Management services and consumes them remotely at theclient's computer system. To overcome challenges faced in the prior artand to rapidly on-board a MaaS Tenant (350) on a multi-tenant MaaSenvironment, MaaS Provider 310 makes use of the following components asillustrated in FIG. 3:

-   -   MaaS Platform 330;    -   MaaS Appliance 320; and    -   MaaS Connect 360.

MaaS Platform 330, which might be an implementation of a SaaS Platformusing the capabilities of System-p/AIX (such as LPAR, WPAR, VIOS, etc.),and using the capabilities from IBM Tivoli software (such as TivoliIdentity Manager, Tivoli Access Manager, Tivoli Usage & AccountingManager, Tivoli Monitoring software, Tivoli Provisioning Manager, etc.).MaaS Platform 330 acts as a host for virtual appliances offering‘Management as a Service’.

MaaS Appliance 320 is a virtual-appliance (or pre-packaged image of ITmanagement software). When installed on a “Software as a Service” (SaaS)Platform, MaaS Appliance 320 offers IT management services to a MaaSTenant, such as MaaS tenant 350. MaaS Appliance 320 can be deployed onthe SaaS Platform when the MaaS Tenant subscribes for the service. Inone embodiment, MaaS Appliances 320 are AIX/WPAR images, which can bedeployed within an AIX/LPAR (LPAR being a Logical Partition).

In addition, the MaaS Provider uses an application to execute in theMaaS Tenant to act as a proxy for the MaaS Services hosted on the MaaSPlatform. MaaS Connect 360 is an appliance (or virtual appliance)deployed in MaaS Tenant premise 350 used to automate & accelerate theprocess of establishing the connectivity between the services offered bythe MaaS Provider to the MaaS Tenant.

In one embodiment, MaaS Connect 360 is prepared by MaaS Provider 310, asan appliance or a downloadable virtual appliance (an application image,which can be played using a VM Player). In one embodiment, MaaS Connect360 is auto-configured to securely connect with a MaaS Tenant, and actsas a gateway between MaaS Tenant premise and MaaS Provider premise. MaaSTenant 350 uses MaaS Connect 360 (either physical appliance ordownloaded virtual MaaS Connect Appliance):

-   -   to automatically discover and recommend the IT Management        functions for the client environment;    -   to assess the current capacity required for each IT Management        function (for example, the number-of-servers that must be        monitored by the ‘Monitoring Service’);    -   to prepare the template contract that can be established with        the MaaS Provider; and    -   to install the necessary agents and software that enables remote        management of Tenant's IT infrastructure.

In one embodiment, MaaS Connect 360 the connectivity with IT Elements inMaaS Tenant premise 350, and the connectivity with MaaS Providerenvironment 310. In a further embodiment, MaaS Connect 360 also makesspecific recommendations regarding upgrades to the networkinfrastructure that might be needed in order for the MaaS Tenant toconsume the service. In some embodiments, MaaS Connect 360 acts as aservice-proxy (for some MaaS Service), and supports off-line activity.

FIG. 4 is a first diagram showing steps performed by the MaaS TenantAdministrator, MaaS Connect, MaaS Platform & MaaS ProviderAdministrator. Initially, the MaaS Provider maintains a repository ofall MaaS Appliances and publishes a catalog of MaaS Services, in aweb-site (step 400). At step 400, the MaaS Platform publishes theon-demand IT Management Service catalog. The repository of several MaaSAppliances (that offer IT Management Services such as, MonitoringService, Incident Management Service, Service Request Management, etc.)is maintained by the MaaS Provider. The metadata of the MaaS Appliancedescribe the dependencies and the scripts that configure the MaaSAppliance instance.

A potential MaaS Tenant uses a web-browser to browse for these servicesand expresses an interest for consuming the IT Management Servicesoffered by the MaaS Provider, by filling a registration form, e.g.,using a web-browser (step 410). In one embodiment, some of the datainputs described herein maybe the result of user input to online orpaper-based forms or the result of other user interfaces. In anotherembodiment, data inputs captured during a step such as the registrationand subscribe step are performed automatically (e.g., by a processrunning on the client computer system, with the client computer systemalso referred to herein as the tenant). While registering, the potentialMaaS Tenant specifies the desire to subscribe for MaaS Services, somedetails about the Service Configuration (such as number of servers to bemonitored by the Monitoring service, etc.), and the desired subscriptionduration. At step 410, the MaaS Tenant Admin registers and subscribesfor IT Management Service using a web-browser. During this step, thetenant browses the IT Management Service catalog and decides to consumeservices from the MaaS Provider. The decision is culminated by thetenant completing the subscription request form. In addition, the tenantselects the desired services, service-configuration (such as, the numberof servers to be monitored by the Monitoring service, etc.), and thedesired subscription duration. The tenant also saves the service-requestidentifier for further use. with the provider.

The MaaS Provider initiates the processing of the request from thepotential MaaS Tenant at step 425. In the meantime, at step 420, theMaaS Tenant downloads and executes a MaaS Advisory application. The MaaSAdvisory application will evaluate the tenant's IT Environment,connectivity between the MaaS Tenant & MaaS Provider to recommend thelist of services that can be subscribed by the tenant, the preferredSLAs, and licensing scheme for each of the services. During step 420,the MaaS Advisory application evaluate the tenant's IT environment &recommends MaaS Service using MaaS Advisory. First, the MaaS Advisoryapplication is downloaded to the tenant in order to evaluate theTenant's IT Environment, and connectivity between the MaaS Tenant & MaaSProvider. Next, the MaaS Advisory application is executed to determinethe Tenant's IT Environment and its connectivity to providerenvironment. During the execution of the MaaS Advisory application, theTenant's IT Environment is discovered (using capabilities of productssuch as Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager™) to populate aCMDB. In addition, the Tenant's IT Environment is monitored (for a shortduration) for system-parameters, network-parameters, andmiddleware-parameters. The MaaS Advisory application also discovers andmonitors the connectivity (and related parameters) for the existingnetwork-connection between the MaaS Tenant & MaaS Provider. Execution ofthe MaaS Advisory application also includes a search of the MaaS Servicecatalog for the service predicate rules and evaluate each servicepredicate (using the discovered/monitored data) to shortlist the MaaSService to be recommended for the MaaS Tenant. The service-configurationis determined for each short-listed MaaS Service, by evaluating theservice-configuration recommendation rules (maintained with theservice-catalog) using the discovered/monitored data. For example, theservice-configuration recommendation rule for Monitoring service—willcompute the number of servers to be monitored, etc. Finally, the MaaSAdvisory application evaluates the usage-license recommendation rules(maintained with the service-catalog) to recommend the applicable SLA &usage-license schemes for each MaaS service recommended.

The MaaS Advisory will prepare the report such as the follows:

MaaS Service Advisory Service Item config- No. IT Element QuantityRecommended Service(s) uration 1. Server 15 Server Monitoring Service —Security Management Asset Management 2. Databases 3 Database MonitoringService — Capacity Management 3. J2EE App. 8 Composite Application —Server Management 4. Desktop 75 Asset Management — Incident ManagementItem No. Recommended Service(s) Service Parameter 5. Storage Management— 6. IT Advisory Service License Advisory Item No. License RecommendedService(s) Rate Plan 1. Pre-paid Server Monitoring Service Flat-rate:200 USD pm Edition (for 0-20 servers) Additional Server Asset ManagementMonitoring: 10 USD per (for up to 250 IT Elements) server . . . IncidentManagement And so on . . . (for up to 50 per month) Reports (for up to 4per month) 2. Extended Server Monitoring Service . . . pre-paid (for0-20 servers) . . . edition Asset Management (for up to 250 IT Elements)Incident Management (for up to 50 per month) Reports (for up to 4 permonth) Database monitoring (for 5 databases) Capacity Management (for 5databases)

The MaaS Provider evaluates the details provided by the potential MaaSTenant, to create a new server partition (AIX-LPAR) in the MaaSPlatform. The size of the resource allocated to the LPAR is determinedbased on the registration details provided by the tenant. A base-profileimage is loaded in the newly created LPAR with an operating system(AIX), the health monitoring agents, usage metering agents, anintegrated management console, a database instance, etc.

This approach supports multi-tenancy of a hosted application (which wasprimarily designed for single-tenant purposes). The MaaS Providercreates a separate instance of the application (with dedicatedresources) for each client using LPAR virtualization. The MaaS Providershares the physical resources by dynamically allocating an LPAR to atenant based on requirements. The shared resources include Hard-disk,CPU, memory, I/O, etc. In one embodiment, the usage of resourcesallocated to a tenant is continuously monitored. If necessary, theseresources can be dynamically increased or decreased as per the real timechanges in the tenant's requirement.

Returning to step 425, the MaaS Platform handles the new tenantregistration. The MaaS Platform evaluates the Tenant's subscriptionrequest to determine the size of resources that needs to be allocatedfor the new tenant, creates a new LPAR (on the System-p/AIX) for thetenant, using a File-Backed-Device; and configure the LPAR with virtualI/O and virtual storage (depending on the Tenant classification—such asPlatinum. Gold, & Bronze), and loads a base profile image in the MaaSTenant's LPAR; this includes the operating system (AIX), the healthmonitoring agents, usage metering agents, a integrated managementconsole, a database instance, etc. A default set of MaaS Appliances(WPAR images) are loaded on to the newly created MaaS Tenant LPAR, whichcorrespond to a default set of services offered to the MaaS Tenant.

At step 430, the MaaS Connect appliance is prepared, by the MaaSPlatform, for the new tenant. The results of the execution of the MaaSAdvisory application acts as an advisory (input) for the MaaS Tenant,while deciding to consume the services (or subscribe for the services)offered by the MaaS Provider. The MaaS Provider prepares a MaaS Connectfor the new MaaS Tenant. The MaaS Connect is available as an Appliance(to be physically installed in the MaaS Tenant environment) or as aVirtual Appliance (to be installed on an existing hardware usingvirtualization techniques).

The MaaS Connect appliance acts as a gateway for interaction between theMaaS Tenant's IT environment and the MaaS Provider. It is used toestablish a secure channel of communication between the MaaS Tenant &MaaS Provider. It sometime acts as a service-proxy (for some MaaSService), and supports off-line activity. The MaaS Provider configuresthe MaaS Connect to uniquely identify the MaaS Tenant and to securelyinitiate connection to the MaaS Tenant's LPAR from the MaaS Tenant'snetwork. If the MaaS Tenant chose to use the MaaS Connect physicalappliance, then prepare the MaaS Connect physical appliance fordeployment in the MaaS Tenant premise. If the MaaS Tenant chose to useMaaS Connect virtual appliance, then prepare the MaaS Connect virtualappliance for download, and send the URL, user-id & password (forsecurely downloading the MaaS Connect Image) to the Tenant Administratorby eMail.

In preparing the MaaS Connect appliance, the MaaS Platform configuresthe MaaS Connect appliance to uniquely identify the MaaS Tenant and tosecurely initiate connection to the MaaS Tenant's LPAR from the MaaSTenant's network. If the MaaS Tenant chose to use the MaaS Connectphysical appliance, then the MaaS Platform prepares the MaaS Connectphysical appliance for deployment in the MaaS Tenant premise. On theother hand, if the MaaS Tenant chose to use a MaaS Connect virtualappliance, then the MaaS Platform prepares the MaaS Connect virtualappliance for download and execution in a dedicated machine using a VMPlayer, copies the MaaS Connect virtual appliance to thedownload-location, and sends the URL, user-id & password (for securelydownloading the MaaS Connect Image) to the Tenant Administrator viaeMail.

At step 440, the MaaS Tenant sets up the MaaS Connect gateway by eitherinstalling the physical appliance or download the MaaS Connect virtualappliance, using the URL provided in the eMail, using the user-id &password.

The MaaS Tenant starts the MaaS Connect application, which firstlylocally authenticates the user executing the MaaS Connect, using theuser-id & password. Further, MaaS Connect will challenge thetenant-administrator for the service-request id/product-key.

The MaaS Connect application obtains the tenant & user details—forregistration validation and prompts the user to provide the new securitycredentials (digital identity or user-id/password) at first-use. TheMaaS Connect sends the MaaS Connect appliance details to the MaaSProvider and the tenant & user registration details over the Internet.

At steps 460 and 470, the MaaS Connect and MaaS Provider establishsecure interaction channel between the MaaS Tenant & MaaS Provider byexchanging the security credentials. MaaS Connect sends the tenant'ssecurity credentials to the MaaS Provider and request to cross-certify.Similarly, MaaS Provider sends the security credentials to the MaaSTenant to cross-certify.

At step 480, the MaaS Connect re-runs the MaaS Advisory application toassess the tenant's IT environment and prepare a MaaS Advisory report.The MaaS Advisory report is sent to the MaaS Provider to evaluate thetenant's data and assess the provider-side environment and prepare adraft copy of the MaaS Service Contract.

During step 480, the MaaS Advisory component of MaaS Connect assessesthe tenant's IT environment, and provides a report and advice. The MaaSAdvisory discovers and assess the health/capacity of the Tenant ITEnvironment by scanning the IT environment in the MaaS Tenant Premiseusing an agent-less discovery application, to determine the IT Elements,Network elements and the topology (this can be achieved by IBM TivoliApplication Dependency Discovery Manager™) including the following: (i)server (and its configurations); (ii) desktops; (iii) routers; andnetwork configuration. The MaaS Advisory also takes snap-shot of thehealth of the IT Environment using the vital-signs of each of theIT/Network elements and prepares a report, summarizing the state of theIT Environment. In addition, the MaaS Advisory discovers and assessesthe health/capacity of the connectivity between the MaaS Tenant & MaaSProvider as well as discovering the network routes between the MaaSTenant and MaaS Provider, and measuring the snap-shot networkperformance, for each route. The MaaS Advisory scores the connectivitybetween MaaS Tenant and MaaS Provider, summarizes and reports the stateof connectivity between MaaS Tenant and MaaS Provider. In generating anAdvisory for the MaaS Tenant, the MaaS Advisory evaluates the ITEnvironment in the MaaS Tenant and recommends services that can beconsumed by the tenant, assesses the connectivity between the MaaSTenant and the MaaS Provider and recommends changes in the networkconfiguration to improve the score. The MaaS Advisory sends the reportsand recommendations to the MaaS Provider to prepare template MaaSService Contract. This includes sending the MaaS Tenant IT environmenthealth-report, the MaaS Tenant-MaaS Provider connectivity health-report,the MaaS service recommendations, and the MaaS Tenant connectivity-scoreimprovement recommendations.

FIG. 5 is a second diagram showing steps performed by the MaaS TenantAdministrator, MaaS Connect, MaaS Platform & MaaS ProviderAdministrator. At step 500, the MaaS Provider chooses the appropriateMaaS Service Contract (e.g., an XForm) template based on theclassification of the MaaS Tenant (Platinum, Gold, Silver, & Bronze).The MaaS Service Contract Form is auto-filled with the list of MaaSService copied from the MaaS Advisory report. At step 505, the ProviderAdmin prepares the MaaS Service Contract Form. Theservice-configuration, and SLAs, are also automatically filled. The MaaSService Contract Form also enlists the common facilities and othergeneral purpose services (such as Storage Services) provided by MaaSProvider. Finally, the MaaS Service Contract Form enlists all therecommended usage-license models based on the desired services,service-configuration and the desired subscription duration. The MaaSTenant Administrator chooses the appropriate license-model beforedigitally signing the MaaS Service Contract.

During step 505, the Provider Admin prepares a MaaS Service contract.This step involves preparation of the base-contract section as an XForm.A contract template is chosen depending on the classification of theMaaS Tenant (e.g., Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, etc.). The ProviderAdmin refines the SLAs based on (a) the server configuration of the MaaSConnect Appliance; and (b) the connectivity score between the MaaSTenant & MaaS Provider.

During step 510, the MaaS Platform auto-fills the MaaS Service Contract.This step includes auto-filling the IT Management section of the servicecontract which includes enlisting the MaaS Services that are beingprovided by the MaaS Provider and the corresponding IT elements (in theMaaS Tenant premise) which can consume the service as well as enlistingthe general purpose services (such as Storage Services) that are beingprovided by the MaaS Provider. Step 510 also includes auto-filling ofthe License section of the MaaS Service contract. Here, theusage-license model is suggested based on the information gathered asdescribed above, such as when the MaaS Tenant chose the desired servicesin step 410 shown in FIG. 4.

At step 515, the MaaS Tenant reviews the MaaS Service Contract onlineand digitally sign each page in the form—base-contract section, ITManagement service contract section, common facilities. The MaaS Tenantfinally reviews usage-license options, choose the usage-license schemeand the payment modes and digitally sign the license section of theservice-contract.

At step 520, the MaaS Platform processes the MaaS Service contractreceived from the MaaS Tenant. The MaaS Platform verifies the digitalsignature in the base-contract section, and approves and embeds thesignature (of MaaS Provider signatory) in the base-contract section. TheMaaS Platform verifies the digital signature in the IT Managementservice contract section, verifies the choice of MaaS services (and thecorresponding IT Elements that will consume the service); and verifiesthe choice of general purpose services (such as Storage Services). TheMaaS Platform raises a service-request to provision the requested MaaSServices and operational support for the new Tenant (to the operationalsupport (OSS)), and approves and embeds the digital-signature (of MaaSProvider signatory) in the IT Management Service section of thecontract.

At step 530, the MaaS Provider Admin verifies the signature in theusage-license section of the contract, raises a service-request toinitiate the provisioning of business-support for the new MaaS Tenant(to the business support (BSS)), and approves and embeds thedigital-signature (of MaaS Provider signatory) in the license section ofthe contract.

After the MaaS Service contract is established, at various times thetenant may request changes to the subscriptions. At step 540, the MaaSProvider handles the service-request raised by the MaaS Tenant to changethe subscriptions. The MaaS Provider first verifies the availability ofresources in the Tenant's LPAR, to load/change the MaaS Appliance,verifies dependencies in the Tenant's LPAR to load/change the MaaSAppliance. At step 550, the MaaS Platform changes the MaaS ServiceConfiguration for the tenant. Step 550 includes retrieving the relevantMaaS Appliance from the repository and loading them in the Tenant'sLPAR, configuring each MaaS Appliance to establish database, network andapplication connectivity, preparing the upgrades to MaaS Connect inorder to cater to the changes in the MaaS Services subscribed by theMaaS Tenant, and notifying the tenant's MaaS Connect to re-configureitself, in order to handle the changes in the MaaS Service subscription.

At step 560, the tenant's MaaS Connect upgrades itself by downloadingthe updated MaaS Connect configuration list from the server, evaluatingthis MaaS Connect configuration list with the current configuration ofMaaS Connect, to determine the change-list, and performing theoperations suggested by each change-item in the change-list. Theseoperations might include:

-   -   installing additional service-proxies, or    -   removing existing service-proxies, or    -   upgrading the currencies of existing service-proxies.

In addition, during step 560, the MaaS Connect monitors and reports thestatus of the changes made in the MaaS Connect back to the MaaSProvider.

At step 570, the MaaS Connect upgrades the tenant's IT environment. Thisstep includes preparing the MaaS Tenant IT Environment according tochanges in the service-configuration changes, downloading the newservice-configuration list from the server, evaluating thisservice-configuration list, with the existing service-configurations, todetermine the service-configuration change-list, and performing theoperations suggested by each change-item in the change-list. Theseoperations might include:

-   -   deploying new agents remotely onto the new IT elements, or    -   remove existing agents from the IT elements; or    -   upgrading existing agents in the IT elements.

In addition, during step 560, the MaaS Connect monitors and reports thestatus of the changes made in the tenant's IT Environment back to theMaaS Provider.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing initial interaction steps between a MaaStenant and a MaaS provider. MaaS Provider processing commences at 600whereupon, at step 605, the MaaS Provider publishes its on-demand ITservices catalog available to clients (tenants). MaaS Tenant processingis shown commencing at 610, whereupon, at step 615, the MaaS Tenantbrowses the MaaS services catalog. At step 620, the MaaS Tenant choosesto consume services offered by the MaaS Provider. The MaaS Tenant notesthe selections by filling out a subscription request form. At step 625,the MaaS Tenant selects the desired services, service configuration, andsubscription duration and this information is communicated to the MaaSProvider as a new tenant registration request. At step 630, the MaaSProvider processes the new tenant registration request and, at step 635,the MaaS Provider returns a registration identifier to the MaaS Tenant.At step 640, the MaaS Tenant receives the registration identifier fromthe MaaS Provider and saves the identifier for future use. At step 645,the MaaS Tenant downloads the MaaS Advisory application and, atpredefined process 650, the MaaS Tenant downloads and executes the MaaSAdvisory application which assesses the tenant's IT environment,assesses network connectivity, and recommends a license and a SLA (seeFIG. 7 and corresponding text for processing details).

Returning to MaaS Provider processing, after returning the registrationidentifier to the MaaS Tenant, at step 665, the MaaS Provider evaluatesthe tenant's subscription request. At step 670, the MaaS Providercreates a new tenant LPAR, and at step 675, the MaaS Provider loads abase profile for the MaaS tenant into the created LPAR. At predefinedprocess 680, the MaaS Provider prepares the MaaS Connect appliance forthe new MaaS Tenant (see FIG. 8 and corresponding text for processingdetails).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing steps taken by tenant administrationduring MaaS advisory processing. This processing is called frompredefined process 650 shown in FIG. 6. Returning to FIG. 7, processingcommences at 700 whereupon, at step 710 the MaaS Advisory applicationdiscovers the tenant's IT environment (using capabilities of productssuch as Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager™) to populate aCMDB. At step 720, the MaaS Advisory application monitors the Tenant'sIT environment (for a short duration) for system-parameters,network-parameters, and middleware-parameters. At step 730, the MaaSAdvisory application discovers and monitors the connectivity (andrelated parameters) for the existing network-connection between the MaaSTenant and the MaaS Provider. At step 740, the MaaS Advisory applicationsearches the MaaS Service catalog for the service predicate rules andevaluate each service predicate (using the discovered/monitored data) toshortlist the MaaS Service to be recommended for the MaaS Tenant. Atstep 750, the MaaS Advisory application determines theservice-configuration for each short-listed MaaS Service, by evaluatingthe service-configuration recommendation rules (maintained with theservice-catalog) using the discovered/monitored data. Finally, at step760, the MaaS Advisory application evaluates the usage-licenserecommendation rules (maintained with the service-catalog) to recommendthe applicable SLA & usage-license schemes for each MaaS servicerecommended. Processing by the MaaS Advisory application thereafter endsat 795.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing steps taken to prepare the MaaS Connectfor a new tenant. Processing commences at 800 whereupon, at step 810,the MaaS Provider configures the MaaS Connect appliance to uniquelyidentify the MaaS Tenant and to securely initiate connection to the MaaSTenant's LPAR from the MaaS Tenant's network. A decision is made as towhether a physical or virtual MaaS Connect appliance is being used. If aphysical MaaS Connect appliance is being used, then decision 820branches to the “physical” branch whereupon, at step 830, the MaaSProvider prepares the MaaS Connect physical appliance for deployment inthe MaaS Tenant premise. On the other hand, if a virtual MaaS Connectappliance is being used, then decision 820 branches to the “virtual”branch, whereupon, at step 840, the MaaS Provider prepares the MaaSConnect virtual appliance for download and execution in a dedicatedmachine using a VM Player. At step 850, the MaaS Provider copies theMaaS Connect virtual appliance to the download-location, and at step860, the MaaS Provider sends the URL, user-id and password (for securelydownloading the MaaS Connect Image) to the Tenant Administrator viaeMail.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing steps taken to establish service-contractbetween the provider and tenant and to setup the MaaS Connect gateway.Processing commences at 900 whereupon a decision is made as to whether avirtual MaaS Connect appliance is being used (decision 910). If avirtual MaaS Connect appliance is being used, then decision 910 branchesto the “yes” branch whereupon, at step 915, the MaaS Connect applianceis downloaded using the URL provided by the MaaS Provider (e.g., in anemail sent to the MaaS Tenant) and the MaaS Tenant uses the previouslyprovided user identifier and password. On the other hand, if a virtualMaaS Connect appliance is not being used, then decision 910 branches tothe “no” branch bypassing step 915.

At 920, the MaaS Connect appliance establishes a secure connection withthe MaaS Platform using the steps shown. At step 925, the MaaS Connectappliance authenticates the user using the user identifier and passwordsupplied by the user (the user identifier and password being previouslyprovided to the user by the MaaS Provider when the MaaS tenantregistered for the services). At step 930, the tenant is prompted(challenged) for the service request identifier and/or the product keycorresponding to the subscribed services. At step 935, the MaaS Connectappliance obtains the tenant and user details that will be used tovalidate the registration. In one embodiment, the MaaS Connect promptsthe user to provide the new security credentials, such as a digitalidentity or user identifier/password) upon the first use of the servicesby the tenant.

At 940, the MaaS Connect appliance connects to the MaaS Provider overthe computer network, such as the Internet using the steps shown. Atstep 945, the MaaS Connect appliance details are registered with theMaaS Provider and, at step 950, the tenant and user registration detailsare saved at the MaaS Provider.

At step 960, a secure channel is established between the MaaS Tenant andthe MaaS Provider by exchanging security credentials using the stepsshown. At step 965, the MaaS Connect appliance sends the tenant'ssecurity credentials to the MaaS Provider with a request tocross-certify. At step 970, the MaaS Tenant receives the securitycredential from the MaaS Provider and cross-certifies the MaaS Provider.At this point, once the security credentials are certified, a secureconnection is established between the MaaS Tenant and the MaaS Provider.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing steps taken by MaaS advisory component ofthe MaaS Connect to assess the tenant's IT environment, report theassessment, and provide advice. Processing commences at 1000 whereuponat 1005 the MaaS Advisory component discovers and assesses the healthand capacity of the Tenant IT environment using the steps shown. At step1010, the MaaS Advisory component scans the tenant IT environment in theMaaS Tenant Premise using an agent-less discovery application. This isdone to determine the IT Elements, Network elements and the topology(this can be achieved by IBM Tivoli Application Dependency DiscoveryManager™) including servers, desktops, routers, network configuration,etc. At step 1015, the MaaS Advisory component takes a snap-shot of thehealth of the IT Environment using the vital-signs of each of theIT/Network elements discovered in step 1010. Finally, at step 1020, theMaaS Advisory component prepares a report summarizing the state of thetenant's IT environment.

Next, at 1025, the MaaS Advisory component discovers and assesses thehealth and capacity of the connectivity between the MaaS Tenant and theMaaS Provider using the steps shown. At step 1030, the MaaS Advisorycomponent discovers the network routes between the MaaS Tenant and theMaaS Provider. In addition, the MaaS Advisory component measures thesnap-shot network performance for each route. At step 1035, the MaaSAdvisory component scores the connectivity between MaaS Tenant and MaaSProvider. At step 1040, the MaaS Advisory component summarizes andreports the state of connectivity between MaaS Tenant and MaaS Provider.

Next, at 1045, the MaaS Advisory component generates an advisory for theMaaS Tenant using the steps shown. At step 1050, MaaS Advisory componentevaluates the IT Environment in MaaS Tenant and recommends services thatcan be consumed by the tenant. At step 1055, MaaS Advisory componentassesses the connectivity between the MaaS Tenant and the MaaS Providerand recommends changes in the network configuration to improve thescore.

At 1060, the MaaS Advisory component sends the reports andrecommendations to the MaaS Provider in order to prepare a template MaaSService Contract using the steps shown. At step 1065, the MaaS Advisorycomponent sends the MaaS Tenant IT environment health-report to the MaaSProvider. At step 1070, the MaaS Advisory component sends the MaaSTenant—MaaS Provider connectivity health-report to the MaaS Provider. Atstep 1075, the MaaS Advisory component sends the MaaS servicerecommendations for the MaaS Tenant to the MaaS Provider. Finally, atstep 1080, the MaaS Advisory component sends the MaaS Tenantconnectivity-score improvement recommendations to the MaaS Provider.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing interaction between and steps taken byMaaS Provider and MaaS tenant to establish the service contract. MaaSProvider processing commences at 1100 whereupon, at step 1105, the MaaSProvider Admin chooses a contract template depending on theclassification of the MaaS Tenant (e.g., Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze,etc.). At step 1110, the MaaS Provider Admin refines the SLAs based (a)on the server configuration of the MaaS Connect Appliance; and (b)connectivity score between the MaaS Tenant & MaaS Provider.

At 1115, the MaaS Platform auto-fills the IT Mgmt service contractsection using the steps shown. At step 1120, the MaaS Platform enliststhe MaaS services provided by the MaaS Provider, and the correspondingIT Elements (in the MaaS Tenant premise), which can consume the service.At step 1125, the MaaS Platform enlists the general purpose services(such as Storage Services) provided by MaaS Provider.

At 1130, the MaaS Platform auto-fills the license section of the servicecontract using the step shown. At step 1135, the MaaS Platform Suggestthe usage-license model based on the above information, the desiredservices, service-configuration and the desired subscription duration.

MaaS Tenant processing commences at 1140 whereupon, at step 1145, theMaaS Tenant reviews the base-contract section and embeds thedigital-signature (of MaaS Tenant signatory) in the base-contractsection. At 1150, the MaaS Tenant reviews the IT management servicecontract section using the steps shown. At step 1155, the MaaS Tenantchooses the MaaS services and the corresponding IT Elements that willconsume the service. At step 1160, the MaaS Tenant chooses the generalpurpose services (such as Storage Services) provided by MaaS Provider.At step 1165, the MaaS Tenant embeds the digital-signature (of MaaSTenant signatory) in the IT Management Service section of the contract.

At 1170, the MaaS Tenant reviews the usage-license options using thesteps shown. At step 1172, the MaaS Tenant chooses the usage-licensescheme and the payment modes. At step 1175, the MaaS Tenant embeds thedigital-signature (of MaaS Tenant signatory) in the license section ofthe contract.

Processing returns back to the MaaS Provider at 1180 with the MaaSProvider verifying the digital signatures and embedding digitalsignature approvals using the steps shown. At step 1084, the MaaSProvider verifies the digital signatures and embeds digital signatureapprovals in the base contract. At step 1086, the MaaS Provider verifiesthe digital signatures and embeds digital signature approvals in the ITmanagement service contract section. Step 1086 includes verifying thetenant's choice of MaaS and general purpose services, raising aservice-request to provision requested MaaS services and operationalsupport for the new tenant, and approving the section by embedding theMaaS digital signature. At step 1088, the MaaS Provider verifies thedigital signatures and embeds digital signature approvals in theusage-license section. Step 1188 includes raising a service request toinitiate provisioning of business support for the new MaaS tenant, andapproving the section by embedding the MaaS Provider's digital signaturein the license section of the contract.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing interaction between and steps taken byMaaS Provider and MaaS tenant to manage subscription changes and changea tenant's service configuration. MaaS Tenant (MaaS Connect) processingcommences at 1200 whereupon, at step 1205, the MaaS tenant sends aservice request for subscription changes to the MaaS Provider (MaaSPlatform). MaaS Provider/Platform processing commences at 1210 withreceipt of the MaaS tenant request.

At step 1215, the MaaS Provider/Platform handles the service request forsubscription changes using the steps shown. At step 1220, the MaaSProvider/Platform verifies the availability of resources in Tenant'sLPAR to load/change MaaS Appliance. At step 1225, the MaaSProvider/Platform verifies the dependencies in the Tenant's LPAR toload/change the MaaS Appliance.

At step 1230, the MaaS Provider/Platform changes the MaaS serviceconfiguration for the tenant using the steps shown. At step 1235, theMaaS Provider/Platform retrieves all the relevant MaaS Appliance fromthe repository and load them in the Tenant's LPAR. At step 1240, theMaaS Provider/Platform configures each MaaS Appliance to establishdatabase, network and application connectivity. At step 1245, the MaaSProvider/Platform prepares upgrades to MaaS Connect in order to cater tothe changes in the MaaS Services subscribed by the MaaS Tenant. At step1250, the MaaS Provider/Platform notifies tenant's MaaS Connect tore-configure itself in order to handle changes in MaaS Servicesubscription.

Processing returns back to the MaaS Tenant (MaaS Connect) at 1260 uponreceipt of the notification from the MaaS Provider/Platform. At step1260, the MaaS Connect re-configures itself to handle changes in MaaSService subscription.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing by tenant to upgrade MaaS Connect andupgrade the tenant's IT environment. Tenant upgrade processing commencesat 1300 whereupon, at 1310, a number of steps are performed in order forthe MaaS Connect appliance to “self upgrade” (upgrade itself). At step1315, the updated MaaS Connect configuration list is downloaded from theserver (e.g., the MaaS Provider). At step 1320, the MaaS Connectconfiguration that was received by the server in step 1315 is evaluatedusing the current configuration of the MaaS Connect appliance running inthe tenant environment. This evaluation results in a change list. Atstep 1325, each of the operations identified by each of the items in thechange list created in step 1320 is performed. These operations caninclude installing additional service-proxies, removing existingservice-proxies, and upgrading the current existing service proxies. Atstep 1330, the tenant upgrade process monitors and reports the status ofthe changes made to the MaaS Connect appliance to the MaaS Provider.

Next, at 1340, the upgraded MaaS Connect appliance upgrades the tenant'sIT environment using the steps shown. At step 1345, preparations aremade to the tenant IT environment according to the changes in theservice-configuration changes. At step 1350, the newservice-configuration list is downloaded from the server (e.g., the MaaSProvider). At step 1355, the service-configuration list is evaluatedusing the existing service-configurations to determine theservice-configuration change list. At step 1360, each of the operationsidentified in step 1355. These operations might include deploying newagents remotely onto the new IT elements, removing existing agents fromthe IT elements, and upgrading existing agents in the IT elements. Atstep 1365, the tenant upgrade process monitors and reports the status ofthe changes made in the tenant's IT environment to the MaaS Provider.

FIG. 14A is a diagram depicting a sample application where the MaaSPlatform initial includes two LPARs. In this specific example, servermonitoring is provided as a service to the tenant. The provider sets upthe MaaS Platform which consists of a cluster of p-series machines. Thebase operating system used might be running AIX™ operating system as ithas several powerful features which support virtualization. One of thesefeatures amongst these is the support for the creation of LPARs (LogicalPartitions). Each LPAR behaves as a separate virtual server running itsown copy of AIX on it. The LPAR running the AIX as base OS, and theapplication stack on top of it is essentially a FBD (File Backed Device)and an image of the same can be stored in a file. Each LPAR is dedicatedto a tenant and is allocated resources as per the needs of the tenant.These resources can be dynamically allocated or de-allocated. Thecreation of a LPAR is very rapid and it takes only a couple of minutesto create a new LPAR. All the LPARs are managed using the VIOS (VirtualInput-output server). The VIOS itself runs on a separate LPAR.

The MaaS Platform initially comprise of 2 LPARs (LPAR 1405 and LPAR1410) as illustrated in FIG. 14A. LPAR 1405 is dedicated for the VirtualInput Output Server (VIOS) and the other is dedicated for MaaS PlatformManagement. The MaaS Platform Management LPAR also stores a repositoryof MaaS Appliance. Each MaaS Appliance is a workload-partition (WPAR)image which can be deployed in the tenant's LPAR on-demand. When a newtenant subscribes, the MaaS Platform creates a dedicated LPAR for it,allocating resources on the basis of the tenant's requirements andinstalls a base profile. The base-profile comprise of theoperating-system, the agents for monitoring the health, metering etc.Following this, based on the tenant's subscription, the appropriate MaaSAppliance is retrieved from the repository and loaded onto the newlycreated LPAR.

FIG. 14B is a diagram depicting a sample environment that utilizes theapproach described in FIGS. 3 to 13. In the example outlined in FIGS.14A-14C, a product such as ITM™ (IBM Tivoli Monitoring) is used forproviding server monitoring. The basic architecture of ITM is as shownin FIG. 14B. The architecture includes Enterprise Monitoring Server(Hub) 1420 that monitors systems 1425 using monitoring agents thatcollect data from the monitored systems. Remote Enterprise MonitoringServers 1430 and 1435 can also be utilized by monitoring hub 1420.Enterprise Portal Server 1440 serves portal clients 1445 and alsocommunicates with monitoring hub 1420.

FIG. 14C is a diagram depicting the approach running with the MaaSConnect appliance providing a connection between MaaS Provider 1450 andMaaS Tenant 1455. MaaS Ware 1460 includes MaaS Appliance 1465 and baseoperating system 1470. MaaS Appliance 1465 is loaded onto an LPAR for aspecific client and, in one embodiment, has the following components:TEMS™ (Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server™—HUB), TDW™ (Tivoli DataWarehouser™), TEPS™ (Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server™). The HUB-TEMS isthe component which is responsible for actually collecting the data andstoring it in the TDW. The TEPS connects to this TEMS in order to storethe data in a presentable form, and connects to a TDW of its own.

Once MaaS Appliance 1465 is provisioned, the next step is to provide aconnection between MaaS Provider 1450 and MaaS Tenant 1455. This is doneby using MaaS Connect appliance 1475 that has VM Player 1480 installedon it. The client downloads the virtual machine (VM ware) image and runsit on VM Player 1480. The MaaS Appliance includes operating system 1485(such as a Linux™ operating system) as the base Operating System, withRemote TEMS 1490 installed. Remote TEMS 1490 is configured to connect tothe appropriate Hub TEMS. Tivoli Monitoring Agents are remotely deployedon each client server 1495 that need to be monitored through this RemoteTEMS. These agents collect monitoring data and send it to the RemoteTEMS which then forwards it to the Hub TEMS. In one embodiment, all ofthe nodes of the workflow shown in FIG. 14C are implement-able, henceproviding implement-ability of the entire workflow process.

One of the preferred implementations of the invention is a clientapplication, namely, a set of instructions (program code) or otherfunctional descriptive material in a code module that may, for example,be resident in the random access memory of the computer. Until requiredby the computer, the set of instructions may be stored in anothercomputer memory, for example, in a hard disk drive, or in a removablememory such as an optical disk (for eventual use in a CD ROM) or floppydisk (for eventual use in a floppy disk drive). Thus, the presentinvention may be implemented as a computer program product for use in acomputer. In addition, although the various methods described areconveniently implemented in a general purpose computer selectivelyactivated or reconfigured by software, one of ordinary skill in the artwould also recognize that such methods may be carried out in hardware,in firmware, or in more specialized apparatus constructed to perform therequired method steps. Functional descriptive material is informationthat imparts functionality to a machine. Functional descriptive materialincludes, but is not limited to, computer programs, instructions, rules,facts, definitions of computable functions, objects, and datastructures.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that,based upon the teachings herein, that changes and modifications may bemade without departing from this invention and its broader aspects.Therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope allsuch changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scopeof this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that theinvention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will beunderstood by those with skill in the art that if a specific number ofan introduced claim element is intended, such intent will be explicitlyrecited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no suchlimitation is present. For non-limiting example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimelements. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim element by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element,even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more”or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an”; the sameholds true for the use in the claims of definite articles.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented by a computer systemcomprising: configuring a management-as-a-service (MaaS) connect processby a computer processor running at a MaaS provider, wherein the MaaSconnect process is configured based on a request from a MaaS tenant;transmitting, via a network interface, the configured MaaS connectprocess to the MaaS tenant; providing one or more MaaS services from theMaaS provider to the MaaS tenant, wherein the provided MaaS servicesinteract with the configured MaaS connect process installed at the MaaStenant, and wherein the MaaS provider provides one or more MaaS serviceofferings; retrieving a capacity requirement corresponding to the one ormore MaaS service offerings; matching a received list of one or morediscovered tenant information technology (IT) elements with the one ormore MaaS service offerings available from the MaaS provider; retrievingthe capacity requirement corresponding to the one or more matched MaaSservice offerings; receiving a capacity assessment of the tenant ITenvironment from the configured MaaS connect process; comparing thecapacity requirement corresponding to the one or more matched MaaSservice offerings to the received capacity assessment; and notifying theMaaS tenant in response to the comparison revealing that the capacityrequirement corresponding to the one or more matched MaaS serviceofferings exceeds the received capacity assessment.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising: prior to the providing of the one or moreMaaS services: receiving the list of one or more discovered tenantinformation technology (IT) elements from the configured MaaS connectprocess running at the MaaS tenant.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising: including the one or more matched MaaS services offerings inan offer to the MaaS tenant; and receiving a selection from the MaaStenant corresponding to one or more of the matched MaaS serviceofferings, wherein the selection is the one or more MaaS servicesprovided by the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant.
 4. The method of claim3 further comprising: generating a MaaS service contract that includesthe offer.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the notification to the MaaStenant includes an advisory based on the comparison wherein the advisoryincludes one or more IT improvement items targeted to improve the tenantIT environment.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising: remotelydeploying one or more processes from the MaaS provider to the MaaStenant using the configured MaaS connect process.
 7. The method of 6claim wherein the one or more processes include at least one set ofremote management agent processes deployed at the MaaS tenant.
 8. Themethod of claim 7 further comprising: receiving, from the configuredMaaS connect process, a plurality of monitoring data gathered by theremote management agent processes running on a plurality of computersystems operated by the MaaS tenant; and managing the computer systemsoperated by the MaaS tenant based upon the received plurality ofmonitoring data.
 9. An information handling system comprising: one ormore processors; a memory that is accessible by at least one of theprocessors; a network adapter that connects the information handlingsystem to a computer network; a nonvolatile data storage mediumaccessible by at least one of the processors; and a set of instructionsexecuted by one or more of the processors to perform actions of:establishing a network connection between a management-as-a-service(MaaS) provider executing on the information handling system and aremote MaaS tenant computer system over the computer network via thenetwork adapter; configuring a management-as-a-service (MaaS) connectprocess at the MaaS provider, wherein the MaaS connect process isconfigured based on a request received from the MaaS tenant;transmitting the configured MaaS connect process to the MaaS tenant viathe established network connection; providing one or more MaaS servicesfrom the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant, wherein the provided MaaSservices interact with the configured MaaS connect process installed atthe MaaS tenant via the established network connection, wherein the MaaSprovider provides one or more MaaS service offerings; and retrieving acapacity requirement corresponding to the one or more MaaS serviceofferings; matching a received list of one or more discovered tenantinformation technology (IT) elements with the one or more MaaS serviceofferings available from the MaaS provider; retrieving the capacityrequirement corresponding to the one or more matched MaaS serviceofferings; receiving a capacity assessment of the tenant IT environmentfrom the configured MaaS connect process; comparing the capacityrequirement corresponding to the one or more matched MaaS serviceofferings to the received capacity assessment; notifying the MaaS tenantin response to the comparison revealing that the capacity requirementcorresponding to the one or more matched MaaS service offerings exceedsthe received capacity assessment.
 10. The information handling system ofclaim 9 wherein the actions further comprise: prior to the providing ofthe one or more MaaS services: receiving the list of one or morediscovered tenant information technology (IT) elements from theconfigured MaaS connect process running at the MaaS tenant.
 11. Theinformation handling system of claim 10 wherein the actions furthercomprise: including the one or more matched MaaS services offerings inan offer to the MaaS tenant; and receiving a selection from the MaaStenant corresponding to one or more of the matched MaaS serviceofferings, wherein the selection is the one or more MaaS servicesprovided by the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant.
 12. The informationhandling system of claim 11 wherein the actions further comprise:generating a MaaS service contract that includes the offer.
 13. Theinformation handling system of claim 9 wherein the notification to theMaaS tenant includes an advisory based on the comparison wherein theadvisory includes one or more IT improvement items targeted to improvethe tenant IT environment.
 14. The information handling system of claim9 wherein the actions further comprise: remotely deploying one or moreprocesses from the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant using the configuredMaaS connect process.
 15. The information handling system of 14 claimwherein the one or more processes include at least one set of remotemanagement agent processes deployed at the MaaS tenant.
 16. Theinformation handling system of claim 15 wherein the actions furthercomprise: receiving, from the configured MaaS connect process, aplurality of monitoring data gathered by the remote management agentprocesses running on a plurality of computer systems operated by theMaaS tenant; and managing the computer systems operated by the MaaStenant based upon the received plurality of monitoring data.
 17. Acomputer program product stored in a computer-readable storage memory,comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by aninformation handling system, causes the information handling system toperform actions that include: configuring a management-as-a-service(MaaS) connect process at a MaaS provider, wherein the MaaS connectprocess is configured based on a request from a MaaS tenant;transmitting the configured MaaS connect process to the MaaS tenant;providing one or more MaaS services from the MaaS provider to the MaaStenant, wherein the provided MaaS services interact with the configuredMaaS connect process installed at the MaaS tenant, and wherein the MaaSprovider provides one or more MaaS service offerings; retrieving acapacity requirement corresponding to the MaaS service offerings;matching a received list of one or more discovered tenant informationtechnology (IT) elements with the one or more MaaS service offeringsavailable from the MaaS provider; retrieving the capacity requirementcorresponding to the one or more matched MaaS service offerings;receiving a capacity assessment of the tenant IT environment from theconfigured MaaS connect process; comparing the capacity requirementcorresponding to the one or more matched MaaS service offerings to thereceived capacity assessment; and notifying the MaaS tenant in responseto the comparison revealing that the capacity requirement correspondingto the one or more matched MaaS service offerings exceeds the receivedcapacity assessment.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17wherein the functional descriptive material, when executed, causes theinformation handling system to perform additional actions comprising:prior to the providing of the one or more MaaS services: receiving thelist of one or more discovered tenant information technology (IT)elements from the configured MaaS connect process running at the MaaStenant.
 19. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein thefunctional descriptive material, when executed, causes the informationhandling system to perform additional actions comprising: including theone or more matched MaaS services offerings in an offer to the MaaStenant; and receiving a selection from the MaaS tenant corresponding toone or more of the matched MaaS service offerings, wherein the selectionis the one or more MaaS services provided by the MaaS provider to theMaaS tenant.
 20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein thefunctional descriptive material, when executed, causes the informationhandling system to perform additional actions comprising: generating aMaaS service contract that includes the offer.
 21. The computer programproduct of claim 17 wherein the notification to the MaaS tenant includesan advisory based on the comparison wherein the advisory includes one ormore IT improvement items targeted to improve the tenant IT environment.22. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the functionaldescriptive material, when executed, causes the information handlingsystem to perform additional actions comprising: remotely deploying oneor more processes from the MaaS provider to the MaaS tenant using theconfigured MaaS connect process.
 23. The computer program product of 22claim wherein the one or more processes include at least one set ofremote management agent processes deployed at the MaaS tenant.
 24. Thecomputer program product of claim 23 wherein the functional descriptivematerial, when executed, causes the information handling system toperform additional actions comprising: receiving, from the configuredMaaS connect process, a plurality of monitoring data gathered by theremote management agent processes running on a plurality of computersystems operated by the MaaS tenant; and managing the computer systemsoperated by the MaaS tenant based upon the received plurality ofmonitoring data.